The Sims 4 Charisma Skill Guide

Making Friends, Romances, and the Power of Charisma

Charisma is the key to easy Friendship in The Sims 4

The Sims 4's Charisma Skill is learned every time your Sim engages in conversation with other Sims, no matter the circumstance. Given every Sim has a need to socialize, and socializing with Friends usually goes over better, this is a Skill that is helpful to any Sim. It's of particular use to those Sims whose Careers force them to build relationships to advance, but a Sim looking for a future husband/wife or just a good buddy to hang out with is going to also benefit. In this Guide to Charisma, I'll discuss the benefits of the Skill and how you might master it faster.

How to: Charisma CheatsPress Control + Shift + C then type testingcheats on and press enter. You can now set your skill level with stats.set_skill_level major_charisma x (fill in 1-10) - we also have a full listing of Skill Cheats and a master list of Cheats in The Sims 4

A detailed video guide to the Charisma skill in The Sims 4. Includes its features, functions, and how to take advantage of it in your gameplay

Using a Mirror is a great way to Level Charisma

Learning CharismaThe Charisma Skill is unlocked by simply talking to another Sim for a short time or practicing speech in a Mirror. You are also able to read a Skill book to advance the Skill, but that's a pretty poor choice just because it's so slow compared to simply using a Mirror. The ideal mood for this Skill is Confident, given it boosts the success rate of interactions, however you will gain Skill faster by using Happy because it boosts all Skills and has an additional bonus to Charisma Skill Gains. However, it's easier to get Very Confident than it is to get Very Happy, so it doesn't really matter so long as you reach one of these two. Read the guide to Emotions to see how to trigger both Happy and Confident. If you're purely skilling, go for Very Happy, but when it's level 10, go for Very Confident to enjoy even further enhanced success rates with your interactions.

While Practice Speech is the starting interaction for gaining Skill with a Mirror, it soon changes to Practice Storytelling and Practice Epic Story while Confident. These make watching your Sim talk to themselves in the mirror a little less dull, while also reflecting the Sim's improvement in their social capabilities. Practice Pick-Up Lines is only available in the Mirror while Flirty, and is just another way to boost your Charisma Skill. You can access this ability by using the Mirror to Freshen Up to make your Sim feel Flirty.

When Sims interact, all involved can gain Charisma Skill at once.

Charisma Skill LevelsYou unlock the following Interactions as your Sim gains level in Charisma. While its affects on Friendly Interactions are obvious, higher Charisma Skill Level boosts the likelihood Mischievous, Romantic, and Comedy Social Interactions will be taken kindly by the other Sim. This means you can pull the hand buzzer trick or make a joke and get a laugh, rather than an angry response. Your Sim's flirting will also go over well, with high Charisma being the best thing you can do to help your Sim get a Boyfriend or Girlfriend. More on relationships in the Guide to Making Friends in Sims 4:

A Boost to Relationship GainsThe primary bonus you get from Charisma is to have a boost to Relationship gains. The bar goes up a bit more, and more interactions will be accepted kindly rather than leading to embarrassing moments. The boosts are so powerful by level 10 Charisma that you can go from meeting a Sim to Woohoo within 10 interactions, so long as there's a place to do it!

Special Interactions

Charisma's Enchanting Introduction is a powerful way to Meet Friends or Romantic Partners

Charisma opens up a few new conversation abilities, and while some of those are simply going to help you form Friendships, others are more useful in other ways:

Smooth ApologyUse this to turn a conversation around if it's become awkward or your Sim has upset another. It's an excellent way to get the conversation tone shifted back in your favor after your Sim rubs someone the wrong way.

Sweet TalkThis is a Romantic Interaction that helps to raise both friendly and romantic relationship standing. It's more notable because it does both so effectively, I suppose, but also because it's the only one that you will find only under 'Romance'.

Donate to Online CharityDonate $10, $100, or $1,000 to one of several Charities. Each of them has a random chance to be a fraud and upset your Sim each time you donate, but it's usually successful. The three donation types give +1, +2, and +3 Happy Moodlets that last for 6 hours, but the interaction can only be done once per day. It's a small boost to Charisma that can help your Sim get into different Moods, since Happy boosts all Emotions. Great for just before Work or heading out to pick up a new friend in the Park.

The IntroductionsWhile Friendly interactions are available to all Sims, Charismatic Sims get more potent means of making a first impression. The Cheerful Introduction you gain will put a Sim within just a few interactions of early 'Friends' status. Flirty Introduction gives a hefty boost to romantic relations, and is great for that purpose. The best of the three is the Enchanting Introduction, which will give your Sim even more of each of the two types of relationship standing. It's enough to start any Relationship right and give your Sim a lot of progress toward making a new friend or girlfriend/boyfriend.

Ask for Small/Large LoanThis allows your Sim to ask another for either a $500 or $2000 Loan. These Loans don't need to be paid back, and Sims will usually agree to give them to you so long as the conversation tone is favorable. I'm sure there's a chance of them turning it down at a low level such as acquaintances, but I didn't run into that - Sims will see your Charismatic Sim as trustworthy and fork over the cash. Now, it's worth noting that some Sims will not give the offer of a Large Loan until you've gained some relationship with them. Other times, the option is available right from the introduction. Once a loan is given, the game will keep track of how much is owed to that particular Sim. If you repay the loan, you'll get a small bump in friendship just as with any other social interaction, so there's little incentive to do so. A single Sim will only give you one small and one large loan - one of each - until it is paid back. That's fine, as there are plenty of Sims to mooch from! In fact, you can make a stable living doing this until you run out of Sims and need to pay them back.

Social Network

Social Networking is a feature of the Charisma Skill

Sims who reach level 5 Charisma can start their own account on a Social Network in The Sims 4. This is a way to simultaneously raise Charisma, have fun, and fill the Social Need at once. However, it requires you to queue up a lot of 'Update Network' actions in order to use it for those things. This is the main way to gain followers, but you gain a few other options as Charisma rises. You get the ability to Upload Images (+5-15 or more Followers, 1 hour cooldown), and invent new Hashtags (+5-15+ Followers, 6 hour cooldown). Both of these can fail, but you'll still get a few followers - just a notification to #StopTryingtoForceIt or that it's a picture they've seen millions of times before.

The last ability is to upload Viral Video and it gives a whopping 40-50 Followers but can be used only once per day. Overall, these Social Networking interactions confuse me because most things in the game give a Moodlet or some other indication of what their purpose is, but this one does not. Even with hundreds of followers, I don't see anything happening for my Sim from having his own following. It would have been nice if this were a means to earn money as a Blogger or something to that effect, but it doesn't seem to do anything. I guess this is just to level your Charisma.

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I am curious as to whether the social network function has changed since the City Living expansion pack. As above, the upload viral video now seems to increase follower count by around 1,000,000. I have gotten to the top of the Social Media career, and I am wondering, if I quite the career, will I still have the option to advertise to my followers and make money from that? I will need to experiment.

My sim is in the City Living social media career. To get a promotion he needs 10,000 followers. He's level 7 charisma and it said he can make hashtags now. But when i click on social media, all the options i have are advertise, check total, delete, share image, share jokes and update status. Its taking way to long to get followers help

A few of the other Friendly interactions also increase Charisma, as verified by monitoring the skill percentage on the Skills panel. These include Get to Know, Express Admiration, and Hug. I think Brighten Day also increases Charisma but can't check it right now.

Additionally, you can increase Charisma with Romance interactions that have the sunglasses symbol. Buying the Great Kisser reward from the Aspirations panel will let your Sim gain Charisma by kissing, and any type of kiss should work. Not sure if that includes blowing a kiss.

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